Jeremić pleads for visa relaxations

Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic called on European Union officials to relax the visa regime for Serbian citizens. “Help us to better explain to people in Serbia what a beautiful project the European Union is. Help us by letting people travel more easily,” the minister said in Belgrade yesterday. Jeremic pleads for visa relaxations Jeremic said that this was one of the promises given to Serbia, to thank it for choosing the democratic bloc in the last parliamentary elections. “Serbia’s basic assignment is to integrate into the EU and we are working on having Serbia and the entire Western Balkans join the EU as soon as possible, despite all the obstacles,” he said. Jeremic said that it was important to protect all Serbian citizens living abroad as well. “The availability of consular services for our citizens abroad is one of the basic tasks that the Foreign Ministry is interested in, and it is an important part of Serbia’s diplomacy,” he concluded. “EU to bargain with Serbia” Serbia is still managing to resist the West’s pressure over Kosovo, a Vienna daily writes. “The European Union did not expect that to happen. Serbia still refuses to accept the Ahtisaari plan and objects with all its might to Kosovo independence,” daily Wirtschaftsblat writes in its Tuesday issue. The EU is thus facing a double dilemma. It claims that the Kosovo issue is not regarded as a condition for Serbia’s EU membership. One lever is hence lost. On the other hand, the threats coming from Kosovo Albanians about a unilateral declaration of independence are making EU officials sweat, since EU states see the matter differently. The newspaper evoked the case of Croatia which got the green light to begin EU membership talks in October 2005, recalling that in December of that same year Hague fugitive Ante Gotovina was miraculously arrested, so removing the last obstacle for the talks to begin. According to the daily, a similar thing could happen with Serbia – that, or the extradition of Hague fugitive Ratko Mladic could be set as a condition for talks to begin on EU membership. The newspaper speculates that in order for Serbia to give up Kosovo, or at least part of it, it should be offered something more in return. In the end, everything will revolve around money, in the shape of incentives and loans, and allowing Serbian people to travel more easily, the daily concludes.

Jeremić pleads for visa relaxations

Jeremić said that this was one of the promises given to Serbia, to thank it for choosing the democratic bloc in the last parliamentary elections.

“Serbia’s basic assignment is to integrate into the EU and we are working on having Serbia and the entire Western Balkans join the EU as soon as possible, despite all the obstacles,” he said.

Jeremić said that it was important to protect all Serbian citizens living abroad as well.

“The availability of consular services for our citizens abroad is one of the basic tasks that the Foreign Ministry is interested in, and it is an important part of Serbia’s diplomacy,” he concluded.

“EU to bargain with Serbia”

Serbia is still managing to resist the West’s pressure over Kosovo, a Vienna daily writes.

“The European Union did not expect that to happen. Serbia still refuses to accept the Ahtisaari plan and objects with all its might to Kosovo independence,” daily Wirtschaftsblat writes in its Tuesday issue.

The EU is thus facing a double dilemma. It claims that the Kosovo issue is not regarded as a condition for Serbia’s EU membership. One lever is hence lost.

On the other hand, the threats coming from Kosovo Albanians about a unilateral declaration of independence are making EU officials sweat, since EU states see the matter differently.

The newspaper evoked the case of Croatia which got the green light to begin EU membership talks in October 2005, recalling that in December of that same year Hague fugitive Ante Gotovina was miraculously arrested, so removing the last obstacle for the talks to begin.

According to the daily, a similar thing could happen with Serbia – that, or the extradition of Hague fugitive Ratko Mladić could be set as a condition for talks to begin on EU membership.

The newspaper speculates that in order for Serbia to give up Kosovo, or at least part of it, it should be offered something more in return.

In the end, everything will revolve around money, in the shape of incentives and loans, and allowing Serbian people to travel more easily, the daily concludes.